Flight to White Forest
by Gabsie
Summary: Griggs and Sheckley decide to leave the mines and travel to White Forest to meet up with the rest of the rebels. Last chapter now uploaded.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

It was early in the morning when Griggs began to stir. He got up and stretched his arms and legs. He was still sleepy. This was mainly due to the fact that he had had multiple nightmares which prevented him from getting a proper night's sleep.

He tiptoed around his lumpy mattress, being careful so as not to wake up Sheckley, who was sleeping on the mattress next to his.

He sat next to one of the four tunnels in the atrium. Each cave had a mounted semaphore with sensors for detecting movement which in most cases would include an antlion attack. There were three lights. If one light was lit then there were only a few antlions present in the cave, however if three lights were lit then there would much more.

Yesterday there was the "incident" when the three lights of all four caves lit up. Thank God they had the help of the Vorts and Gordon Freeman.

"That Gordon's alright," Griggs thought to himself, "doesn't talk much."

Griggs was wondering if chickens could talk, what they would say when Sheckley started to get up.

"Hey Sheck," Griggs greeted him.

"How long have you been up Griggs?" wondered Sheckley while he put on his green beanie and his hand reached for his gun. In Sheckley's experience it was a good idea to always be prepared.

"Not long. Just thinking about chickens and such." said Griggs with a shrug.

Sheckley groaned. "Griggs do you ever realistically think about anything? Geez you're like a kid!"

"What am I supposed to think about? There's nothing to do here but think unrealistically about everything." Griggs said in a defensive tone.

"For one you could come here and help me fix the turrets that broke yesterday."

"Fine I'll go and do boring stuff then."

λ λ λ

Sheckley showed Griggs how to use a screwdriver to screw the screws back in place. Then he left to continue his own turret.

"Hey, this isn't so hard." said Griggs while he was happily screwing in a screw.

Sheckley took a look at what Griggs was doing and put his hand on his forehead in frustration.

"Griggs…" he began in a dull tone, "you're screwing them in with the wrong tool you idiot."

Griggs examined the tool he was working with.

"No I'm not," he said with conviction.

"Griggs that's a piece of― What is that?" Sheckley asked dumbfounded.

"It's a piece of an antlion. See it's just as hard as metal." Griggs demonstrated by trying to bend in half. "See? Virtually indestructible."

"We only have one screwdriver and I'm using it to fix my turret." Sheckley produced the screwdriver from his pocket.

"Lemme see that." Griggs said while snatching the screwdriver out of Sheckley's hand.

Griggs examined it for a few moments. "Ohhhhh, so that's a screwdriver. I thought it was an engraver."

"A what?" demanded Sheckley. He was shaking with anger now.

"An engraver you know….to engrave…things. Pffft Sheckley I thought you were better than that. Boy was I wrong."

"To hell with food or medicine," he said in a sarcastic tone. "I've got an _engraver_. Not to worry, if I ever get hungry it's good to know I have my _engraver_, you know, for peace of mind. With my _engraver_ all my problems are solved. Listen to this Griggs 'Combine watch out…I have an _engraver, _to hell with your striders and hunters."

Sheckley was so angry he looked as if he was about to break the screwdriver in two. He held it up for a few seconds.

"Sheck?" asked Griggs, "what 'cha doing?"

"Counting to ten." Sheckley let out a long sigh. "I think I'm ok now. Go there and do whatever you want." Sheckley pointed to a corner with his finger. 'You'll be three times as productive, I guarantee it."

"Fine. Have it your way" Griggs dropped what he was doing and took his 'screwdriver' with him.

"Boy, Sheckley should just chillax." Griggs muttered to himself.


	2. Chapter 1

**Hi, Gabsie here. Thank you so much for all the views. I hope you enjoyed my first chapter which I've now renamed as "Prologue", so this chapter is officially Chapter 1. **

**Please please please leave reviews as constructive criticism helps me to improve my writing skills **

**Once again thanks so much and I hope you've had as much fun reading my story as much as I've had writing it ******

**Gabsie λ**

Chapter 1

Sheckley was busy checking the turret when Griggs approached him.

"Hey Sheck, whatcha doing?" asked Griggs.

"Maintaining the turret with my trusty _engraver_," answered Sheckley showing the tool to Griggs.

"I said I was sorry about that last time. Anyway I've just had a 'brain blast'. Griggs said sounding excited like a child about to open a Christmas present.

"You've been having a lot of those recently." said Sheckley in a sarcastic tone, while tightening a bolt, "So what is this "brain blast?"

"Don't interrupt my train of thought. Anyhow I thought we could go on an adventure, you know explore a little. Get some fresh air. I'm sick of this place.''

"And what do you suppose is out there?" Sheckley asked folding his arms.

Griggs was about to answer when Sheckley interrupted, "Worm larvae, rocks and more worm larvae."

"Don't forget the antlions oh oh and the guardians too. You can't forget those." Sheckley rolled his eyes, "In any case that's what we're going to find out. Oh c'mon Sheck it's gonna be fun." Griggs was doing a bad imitation of puppy dog eyes.

"First of all stop doing that. You look like an idiot. Second of all lemme think about it." Sheckley appeared to be deep in thought, mentally weighing the pros and cons. "Ah what the hell? I'm getting kinda sick of this place too." Sheckley shrugged and went to one of the ammo supply crates. He loaded his gun and packed some extra ammo.

"For the antlions." Sheckley explained.

Griggs packed all the medkits he could find and he also packed some extra ammo for his gun.

"Let's go!" said Griggs pointing to one of the tunnels which had a hole in the fence.

λ λ λ

"Whoa this place really is full of antlion larvae!" Griggs said in wonder.

"Try not to touch it or those damn guardians will be on our ass faster than you can count to three, well, at least, faster than _I_ can count to three." Sheckley warned.

"Ha-ha, wait… hey Sheck!" Griggs said with a frown on his face. Sheckley had a smug grin on his face.

"Aw hell, this place is so boring Sheck.'' Griggs said.

"This was _your_ idea Griggs," Sheckley reminded him, "now we're here, we should just make the most of it-. Oops, uh Griggs?"

"What?" Griggs asked while he was checking his gun.

"Is that what I think it is?" Sheckley asked lifting up his leg to examine the sole of his shoe. There was a jelly-like substance that glowed a brilliant yellow colour in the darkness of the caves.

"Ah hell. Sheckley what are we going to do? If one of those guardians finds us, we're toast!" Griggs said in an unusually high pitched voice.

"Just calm down Griggs, dammit, just calm down!" Sheckley said. "Just let me think for a second."

A few moments passed. Sheckley was deep in thought but Griggs was getting impatient.

"Umm Sheckley maybe you could help us out _this_ century, I mean if it's not a problem." Griggs said in a sarcastic tone.

Sheckley stared at Griggs in wonder.

"In case you haven't noticed I'm the only one around here who actually has two brain cells to rub together." Sheckley said.

Griggs was about to retort when Sheckley said:

"I've got it. If we move slowly, they might not be able to sense the vibrations made with our feet. Back away slowly to the end of the tunnel Griggs." Both of them walked back to the end of the tunnel. They trod slowly so as not to make vibrations with each step.

"Nearly there Griggs."

They trod lightly until the fence was in view.

"One. Two. Three-- Go!" shouted Sheckley. They sprinted to the fence, but when they were only a few feet away the ground began to shake.

"Shit." Said Griggs as antlions began to come out of the ground.

He started shooting without aiming and he killed quite a few antlions, however more started to come. They were surrounded six to one.

"Griggs there's no time," Sheckley shouted to Griggs over the sound of gunfire, "get your ass back to the fence."

As soon as Sheckley said this the antlions ran away.

"See Sheckley," Griggs said with self-satisfaction, "I took care of that problem."

Sheckley took off his green beanie and was about to wipe the sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand, when his eyes widened and his hand suddenly stopped moving.

"Griggs-- Hey Griggs you hear that?" Sheckley said in a panicky voice.

"Hear what?" Griggs asked.

A second later there was the sound of a low growl. The wall of the cave ripped apart and a guardian came charging out. It was immense and red. It had bloodlust in its eyes and its targets were Griggs and Sheckley, the ones who killed its young.

Griggs began to shoot at it.

"Griggs that's useless." Sheckley shouted at his friend. He looked around and ran through the hole in the fence. "C'mon Griggs." Sheckley tried to make the hole in the fence a little bit bigger. He needed it to be big enough for Griggs to pass through, but small enough so that the guardian would not be able to fit.

Griggs ran towards the fence, but at the same time the guardian was getting ready to lunge at Griggs. It was like a bull which had just seen the red flag of a Spanish Matador.

With the help of Sheckley, Griggs managed to jump through the hole in the fence, however when the guardian charged it broke the whole fence.

The guardian was now in the mines.

"Oh crap… we're doomed," Griggs said sick with worry as he reloaded his Sub-Machine Gun.

"If we shoot it while running around the mine, we'll be able to take it." said Griggs with sudden optimism.

"What have we got to lose? Oh wait… our lives!" Sheckley shouted back.

As they ran around the mines, they began to shoot the guardian. They ran up and down the steps that were behind the elevator. However the guns seemed to have little effect.

Then, out of nowhere came a hum and the sound of gears grinding against each other. The elevator had been activated, and someone –or something- was on it's way up.

"Oh God. What now?" Sheckley asked.

"You think the combine found out about our digs?" asked Griggs as the elevator ascended.

"We'd better hope not or else we'll have to deal with those bastards too. Sheckley said while shooting the guardian, "Aw hell it's like these bullets are bouncing off it."

"You know Sheck, when this is over we really should leave this place.'' said Griggs.

When the elevator stopped, Griggs and Sheckley held their breath for a moment.

Three vortigaunts stepped off the elevator.

"We are here to assist the inhabitants of the mines. We aim to help in the dispatching of the guardian." One of them said.

"Be my guest." Sheckley told it.

Using their vortessence, all three vortigaunts managed to execute the guardian effortlessly.

"How did you know we were in danger?" asked Griggs.

"We were monitoring the movements of the guardian. When we failed to sense it's presence we know trouble was afoot." Explained one of the vortigaunts.

"Hey thanks, Vorts." Griggs said attempting to high five a vortigaunt. When he noticed they only had three fingers he pretended like he was scratching his head.

"Quite. And now we have dispatched of the guardian we will be on our way."

"Thanks once again." said Sheckley as the vortigaunts made for the elevator.

"Sayonara!" shouted Griggs, "Those Vorts. Great guys."

**Later that evening:**

"Hey Sheck. Remember when I said ' You know Sheck, when this is over we really should leave this place'? Well, I've been thinking about it." started Griggs.

"Ooh Griggs thinking. This I gotta hear." said Sheckley as he folded his arms.

"Ha-ha. Well I think we really _should_ leave."

Sheckley was looking at Griggs as if waiting to hear more of the great "Griggs Idea". Griggs smiled a wide smile but he got the hint (barely).

"Oh yeah. 'Cause this place is dangerous as hell." Griggs finished.

"Yeah and what would we do then huh? What would we eat? Where are we going? These minor details still need to be worked out Einstein." Sheckley said.

"Ein― what? Anyway, you heard Alyx and the other Vort last time. We should meet up with them and go to White Forest. There's the resistance. Oh please Sheck it's dangerous down here, not to mention dark, smelly and scary." He coughed while saying scary so Sheckley would not be able to hear.

Sheckley was about to shoot down his idea yet again, however he had to agree with Griggs on this one. At White Forest there would be protection, proper beds and not to mention food. Not the antlion crud they eat everyday.

"Hmmm… I think it would be our best option and your first good idea. Ok round up all the medkits you can find. We're going to White Forest!" as he said White Forest he put his fist in the air.

"Ok Sheck, but in the morning?" Griggs fell down on his lumpy mattress. He pushed aside some empty bullet casings and got in the foetal position ready to fall asleep.

"Whatever, sleepy head." He said as he took off his beanie and lay down on his mattress.

6


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 

During the night Sheckley had a nightmare. In his dream the Combine found out about the mine. They came in through the tunnels five-by-five and Sheckley suddenly saw Griggs's lifeless body on the floor accompanied by a pool of blood. The Combine soldiers turned to face Sheckley, their guns drawn. As they were about to shoot, he woke up, and opened his eyes. Griggs was bent over looking down into his face.

"Sheckley you were having a bad dream." Griggs informed him.

"I don't have nightmares." Sheckley told him.

"Then why were you screaming and moving and shouting 'Griggs!" asked Griggs.

"Can we just drop it, ok Griggs?"

"Fine." Griggs got up and muttered to himself.

Sheckley took a hopper mine from the crate and began to tinker with it.

"So ah, Sheck when are we going to leave this place?" Griggs asked. "I found some boxes and I packed some medkits and-"

"More boxes means more stuff to carry. Ergo more stuff to slow us down." Sheckley said without taking his eyes of his work.

"Oh I'm sorry. I couldn't find the suitcases." Griggs said sarcastically as he glanced at the boxes he had packed so meticulously. All of a sudden Griggs smiled as he had just had one of his rare good ideas.

He smiled as he disappeared into the tunnels but Sheckley didn't notice his absence as he was so focused on fixing his turret.

A few hours later Griggs came back from his trip. Sheckley was on his back laying down on the lumpy mattress.

"I have the perfect solution to our packing worries. Sheckley, prepare to be amazed."

There were two long thick sticks and two large square pieces of material on the floor.

"What the hell are those for?" Sheckley asked puzzled.

"Y'know to carry stuff. See." Griggs showed Sheckley how to tie the material to the stick.

It was like something out of little Red Riding Hood.

"So we're going to carry our stuff in one of those?" Sheckley asked raising an eyebrow.

"Correct."

"I must be _living_ in a nightmare." Sheckley muttered to himself.

**Later that Evening:**

Griggs and Sheckley spent the rest of the afternoon packing their items in their little Red Riding Hood sacks.

Sheckley's bundle was full of ammo, a cloth for cleaning his gun, more ammo and a knife he found while packing his ammo. He also has a few other little items.

Griggs' bundle was full of medkits, some ammo and a little teddy bear he kept with him. He always hid it under his mattress so Sheckley wouldn't find it. It was Griggs' good luck charm and since he was a very superstitious person, he decided to pack it so they would have a safe journey.

Now the duo were spending their last night in the mines. They were both wide awake reminiscing on the good times they had had in the mines.

"Hey Sheck remember that time…" Griggs was laughing so hard, he couldn't finish the sentence. Sheckley was laughing just for the hell of it.

"Hey Griggs remember when Alyx and Gordon came down here?"

"Sure, Sheck. Damn, Alyx has a fine ass."

"I second _that_." They both sighed and laughed again. "That Gordon is one lucky bastard."

"Ah I'm gonna miss this place. Just a little bit. Even though we nearly died a coupla' times. But it was our home."

"I can't wait to leave this dump. No electricity, no safe drinking water. Remember _that_ week. You couldn't even stop shitting and-"

"Yes, I remember that week. Quite well in fact," said Griggs quickly, "so what time are we leaving tomorrow morning?" Asked Griggs to change the subject.

"Do I look like I own a watch? We leave when we leave ok? Now shut your pie hole and let's get some sleep."

"G'Night Sheck." Griggs said in a bad Australian accent. He was obviously excited.

"Yeah ok." said Sheckley turning on his side.

Sheckley's sleep was very fitful that night. He had dreams mostly about the Combine. There were striders, hunters, guards and antlions. Sheckley suddenly woke up, but it was still late evening/early morning, he could see stars from the hole in the ceiling of the mines.

He tried to sleep again and this time he had a peaceful sleep.

Griggs woke up and poked Sheckley awake.

"C'mon Sheck. Rise and shine. Today we close a chapter in our book of life, or something like that." Griggs said while sitting down on his lumpy mattress.

He got up and put his bundle over his shoulder.

"We're gonna have to get the elevator going. I'll go look for a vort." said Griggs as he put down his bundle and made his way to one of the four tunnels.

"Don't go too far. We both know how klutzy you are." Sheckley warned him.

Sheckley lay in bed and a few minutes later he heard a generator burst into life.

"Let's go, Sheck." Griggs said picking up his bundle as he got into the elevator, "Thank you!" he shouted to the vortigaunt next to the generator.

"Be adequate." A vortigaunt shouted back.

Sheckley stared at Griggs, "What the hell does that mean anyway?"

They rode the elevator to the top. They were greeted with sunshine and clean fresh air.

"Finally," Griggs shouted getting on his knees and kissing the ground. Sheckley yanked him up from his collar, "Knock it off fool."

They walked around until they found a path which led to the main road.

"Hey look! Tire tracks." Griggs pointed to them.

"What the hell is that?" Sheckley walked over to the middle of the road, "Is that a garden gnome?" Sheckley picked it up and looked at it.

"Where do you think it came from?"

"I dunno." Sheckley was about to toss it.

"Hey don't do that." Griggs caught it just in time.

"Why are you so interested in it anyway?" Sheckley asked him.

"It's a garden gnome. It's sweet."

Sheckley rolled his eyes.

"Whatever. Let's go." Sheckley ordered Griggs.

They had walked for maybe three quarters of an hour when Griggs moaned: "She―ckley! She―ckley!"

"Ugh, what do you want now? Jesus you're like a little kid." Barked Sheckley.

"I'm tired and hungry. Let's have a break. Half an hour."

"Fine, half an hour. Then I leave whether you're done or not." Warned Sheckley as he placed his bundle on the ground.

"Ok. Wait… if you have no watch, then how would I know when my half hour's up?" asked Griggs wrinkling his brow.

"When I get bored, we move. Now hurry up Griggs. You're wasting precious time."

Griggs undid his bundle and placed the material on the ground. He sat down and stared at the trees.

"Did you get the cup, by any chance, Sheck? I'm thirsty." asked Griggs.

"Use your hands. Now stop wasting time."

"Sheck…"

"What the hell do you want now, Griggs? And if it's something stupid I swear I'm gonna punch you in the face." snapped Sheckley irritated now.

"I need to eat something." said Griggs in a small voice.

"Join the club." Sheckley sighed, "Here you can borrow my knife. Go kill a bear or something."

Griggs got up and looked around for a river. Sheckley was laying down on his blanket and looking up at the sky.

λ λ λ

Griggs managed to find a little river not far from the camp site.

'Hmmmm. How would I catch a fish?' Griggs thought to himself.

All of a sudden Griggs saw one of the biggest fish he had seen (though he hadn't seen much fish). He got the knife from his pocket. He threw it at the fish blade first, but he missed.

"Fish sticks." He tried another twenty times and finally, when all hope was gone, he hit the fish right in the back.

He cut off the head and tail. He cut the fish in half and carried it to Sheckley.

"Look Sheckley." Griggs said putting up his hands.

"You managed to catch a fish or something?" Sheckley chuckled but when he saw the fish, his eyes widened.

He cleaned the rest of the fish, de-boning, removing the entrails etc, and he stuck the two halves on sticks.

Griggs helped him find some twigs and they made a little fire using Sheckley's matches.

"Wow. I forgot what salmon smelt like." Sheckley said as he was taking in the smell, his eyes closed.

When the fish was done cooking they both dug in.

"Hmmmm… that tastes awesome!" Sheckley exclaimed.

They packed up their stuff when they were done. They walked back to the main road and they went through a tunnel.

'We need a car, or at least a bike." Griggs said.

"Yeah and where do you suppose we get this bike from hmm? 'Bikes R Us' a little up the road? Stop complaining. I'm sure we're not far from White Forest. If we just follow the main road, we'll be there in no time." Sheckley assured Griggs.

They continued forward until they heard gunfire. They also heard Combine chatter.

"You think they caught up with Alyx and Gordon?" asked Griggs.

"Re-load your weapon." Sheckley instructed Griggs.

Sure enough as they got closer they saw Alyx and Gordon in a battle with around twenty Combine.

"Let's even things out a little bit." said Sheckley as he raised his weapon.

They both ran in and started shooting the Combine.

"Griggs and Sheckley! Thank god you're here." Alyx said pleased.

Gordon just smiled and nodded. They were all taking shelter behind some rocks. Occasionally a Combine soldier would wander close to their shelter, but he never lasted long.

"On the count of three we charge. Agreed?" Alyx asked looking at everybody.

Everybody nodded and loaded their weapons.

"One. Two. Three -Go." shouted Alyx.

Everyone charged forward. Gordon with his shotgun, Alyx with her pistol, Griggs and Sheckley with their SMGs.

Gordon killed the majority of the Combine soldiers. When all the soldiers had been disposed of, Griggs tended to everybody's wounds.

Everyone picked up a Combine pulse rifle and some extra ammo.

"One for me and… one for me." Sheckley said.

"Nice." Griggs said as he examined his pulse rifle.

"Sweet." said Alyx as she cocked hers.

Gordon nodded his head in approvement.

"So uh, Alyx. Got room for two more?" asked Sheckley.

"If you can squeeze in the back, then it's no problem." Alyx said while Gordon nodded again.

"Not much of a talker, are you, Gordon?" Sheckley nudged Griggs in the side, while Alyx giggled.

"Oh by the way we found this. I'm not sure if it's yours." Griggs showed them the garden gnome.

Gordon's face lit up with delight.

"So there's Gnomey Campbell!" exclaimed Alyx. "Gordon's been looking for him for ages." Griggs gave him back to Alyx.

"Thanks Griggs. I'll hold onto him." Alyx held him tight to her chest.*

Alyx showed Griggs and Sheckley the car.

"Whoa you scored!" exclaimed Griggs.

"I know, right?" Alyx said.

Gordon and Sheckley exchanged looks.

"Off to White Forest, everybody!" Said Alyx as she climbed into the car after Griggs and Sheckley.

***AT THAT MOMENT ALL THREE OF THEM WISHED THEY WERE GNOMEY.**

**Thanks once again for any views and Chapter 3 will be uploaded soon :D Woot.**


	4. Chapter 3

9 **λ**

Chapter 3

**Yay my fourth ****instalment of "Flight to White Forest". I really hope everybody is enjoying it so far. Thanks for the views and I hope you continue to follow Griggs' and Sheckley's expedition to White Forest. Enjoy. **

The trip was very quiet. Gordon never spoke and his eyes were always on the road. Alyx was smiling all the time whilst hanging on to the door-less car.

"Everything ok back there?" Alyx asked concerned.

"Just dandy." Sheckley said as he was squashed in the back with Griggs.

"The gnome is ok too." Griggs informed them. "Hey what did you call him again?"

"Gnomey Campbell. She was a pre-Combine British supermodel." Alyx and Gordon began to laugh. "I have a few things left that used to belong to my mother. A magazine with her on the front cover is one of them." Alyx looked sad for a bit. She sighed and then looked back at the road.

"Hit a sore spot huh?" Griggs whispered to Sheckley while Sheckley in turn nudged him. "Ha ha. Gnomey Campbell. I like it." Griggs laughed. Sheckley rolled his eyes and the journey continued.

They arrived at the top of a hill that had a big house. Next to it, a little garage and also a lab with a large room.

"Perfect, let me see if I can get a transmission to Dr. Magnusson." said Alyx as she got out of the car.

"Huh what?" said Griggs. He was getting confused.

"It's a long story. So to cut it short, I stole a data packet from the Citadel that contains information that is crucial for the destruction of the Xen portal. Dr. Magnusson, my father and Dr. Kleiner built a rocket and they're going to input this data in the rocket so they can destroy the portal. In lay man's terms."

They entered the large house but were met with two zombines with grenades.

"Run for cover!" shouted Sheckley as he jumped out of the doorway and landed on the floor.

Everyone else followed one-by-one and luckily there were no serious injuries. After Griggs finished checking everyone for injuries, Alyx went back to the console to try and contact White Forest.

"Shoot, no electricity." Alyx said as she examined the mess that was the wires connecting the console to power.

"Where do you think the power comes from?" asked Sheckley.

"We could try the other building, you know, the one with half of it blown up and in rubble." Suggested Griggs.

They went over to the building and jumped in through the hole after each other.

"This looks like some kind of meth lab." Said Sheckley as he picked up a random vial.

"Hey look an elevator!" Griggs said as he went next to it and pushed the button. "Nothing happened."

"No duh. No electricity Einstein." Sheckley said as he tapped Griggs on the head with his knuckle.

"Who the hell is this Einstein person you seem to mention so much!?" asked Griggs getting angry now.

"Forget it. Alyx you think the main's down there?" asked Sheckley, asking as if he understood a lot about electricity and such.

"I think so. Look." Alyx pointed to two thick wires leading to three lights on the ceiling. She walked over to the elevator. "That looks pretty deep. Gordon you have the HEV suit. You should go down there and switch on the mains." Suggested Alyx.

Gordon nodded his head in agreement and jumped down.

"So uh, Alyx. What's your situation with Gordon?" Griggs asked looking intently at Alyx.

She giggled. "Excuse me?"

Sheckley hit his forehead in frustration but before Griggs could rephrase his question, the elevator came into view.

Alyx ran to Gordon. "Yes! You got it working. You're amazing Gordon!"

"Real smooth eh, hot shot?" Sheckley asked Griggs as soon as Alyx was out of earshot.

Alyx came towards Griggs and Sheckley. "Let's go talk to Dr. Magnusson."

They walked back to the door when Alyx suddenly froze.

"You hear that?" she asked them. Everyone exchanged nervous glances. "Everyone down!" she hissed as the face of a hunter suddenly appeared through the hole they had climbed in through.

Everyone crouched behind one of the two long counters.

"Dammit. I hate these hunters. They take forever to kill." Sheckley said as he held up his rifle.

"When was the last time we saw one Sheck?" asked Griggs.

"It must be years now." Said Sheckley as he zoned out for a second.

The hunter burst through a wall and began to throw its flechettes towards the wooden doors.

"Those doors won't last for much longer." Said Sheckley as the flechettes exploded.

"Just shoot the damn things." Griggs said. The fear was evident in his voice.

The doors suddenly exploded and two hunters stood amongst the wreckage. Their big eyes searching for any forms of life.

Alyx got up and started to shoot it in the eyes.

"A little help here?" Alyx said as a flechette hit her arm.

Gordon got up and shot the same hunter, while Griggs and Sheckley focused their attention on the other one. After many hits from the pulse rifle the hunters died.

"My pulse rifle's beat. I don't have any ammo left." Griggs said as he checked the magazine.

"Toss it. I'm sure we're gonna get another one in the near future." Sheckley told him.

Everybody healed themselves and ran out. Two more hunters came out of nowhere. Gordon suddenly got into his car and started it. He put it on turbo boost and drove forward.

"Hey where's he going? Is he leaving?" asked Griggs.

"Wait. I'm sure Gordon has a plan." Alyx said as she dodged some more flechettes.

Gordon drove forward and ran over one of the hunters. Griggs, Sheckley and Alyx began to cheer as Gordon got ready to drive over the second hunter. When both hunters had been disposed of, Gordon got out of the car and Alyx ran towards Gordon and hugged him.

"Wow Gordon. Your ideas are really something." She suddenly noticed Griggs and Sheckley and she blushed. "We better go and contact White Forest."

Alyx turned on the console and tried to make contact with White Forest.

"White Forest. Come in White Forest."

"Alyx. Darling is it you?" Eli's voice came in.

"Dad? Dad it's me. Listen we're on our way to…" Alyx was about to continue when she was rudely interrupted.

"Alyx? Gordon? Why haven't you arrived here yet? We've been waiting for hours!" Dr. Magnusson's voice came over loud and clear.

"Dr. Magnusson…" Alyx started.

"No excuses just get here and fast." He said getting angry.

"Alyx sweetie take all the time you need." Eli told her.

"All the time- The rocket cannot launch without that data packet. Get here as soon as you can. Chop-chop, better not waste _more_ time." Dr. Magnusson said as the video began to flicker and then turned off completely.

"Man, he sounds pissed." Griggs said while crossing his arms.

Sheckley slapped the back of Griggs' head, "Let's go."

They went back to the car in silence.

"So uh, Alyx. Tell us more about your mum." Griggs said breaking the silence.

"Were you actually_ born_ without a brain or something?" Sheckley said exasperated.

"Hey, why don't you tell me something about yourselves instead." Alyx offered.

"Th-there's nothing interesting about my life." Griggs said quickly. "Y'know, same old, same old."

"Hey, come to think of it, you've never told me anything about your life before the Combine." Sheckley said, his thumb and forefinger on his chin.

"C'mon Griggs. It can't be _that_ bad." Alyx said. "You're lucky, I can't remember my pre-Combine life 'cause I was just five years old when the seven hour war broke out."

Griggs looked very uncomfortable. The fact that he didn't even have any space to move could also have been a contributing factor.

"I'll help start you off. What were you in school? I mean obviously the nerd. I'm just asking for Alyx's benefit." Sheckley said.

"I was actually a jock, don't you know. A player with the ladies. I mean, look at me." Griggs said pointing towards himself.

"I bet you were." Sheckley said as he rolled his eyes and Alyx giggled.

"Ok, Mr. Popular what were you?" Griggs asked.

"I was more of a leader. Y'know for the individualists." Sheckley explained.

"Leader my ass." Griggs said.

They arrived at a road that went around a hill and stopped at the top. At the beginning of the road was a

sign that read '_White Forest Inn'_.

"Well at least I tell it like it is asshole-" Sheckley yelled.

"What is this place?" Alyx interrupted.

The car rolled towards the top of the hill, and they saw a little petrol station on the left. Next to the petrol station was a couple of garages. Opposite to the garages was a large house, with a section of the wall missing.

They went to inspect the small petrol station first. There was a pool of blood next to the mangled, lifeless body of a resistance fighter.

"This could be Combine handiwork, but it's hard to be sure. There are so many ways to die out here." Alyx said, trying to convince herself and the others that the combine hadn't already found out about this place and the resistance fighter had died some other way.

Afterwards they inspected the lodge which was empty apart from a few fully furnished rooms and some zombies.

"So far so good." Alyx said as she checked her gun.

They got back in the car. Eventually road ran up alongside White Forest Inn on the left. They drove around to the front of the inn. Opposite the inn, were two houses.

"We should go and investigate." Suggested Griggs.

They went through both houses and searched them thoroughly; but they found nothing of much importance. They went to the inn last. The inn had about three floors, including the basement which was stocked with ammo and medkits.

When they were done with restocking their ammo and health packs, they went back to the car and drove forward, but a Combine force field suddenly blocked their path.

"Combine." Alyx said in disgust.

"Holy shit. Where did these bastards come from?" Sheckley asked as he waited for Gordon and Alyx to get out of the car. Sheckley cocked his gun. "We should take them out from the White Forest Inn."

"No time. Kill as many as you can now. We'll go inside when our ammo is low and we need to reload." Alyx said as she looked for the Combine soldiers.

"Sounds like a plan." Sheckley said whilst Gordon and Griggs nodded in agreement.

They shot many combine, some who were on the roof and some who were on the ground. When their ammo was low they retreated back to the inn and went to the basement. Then they went upstairs and took various tactical positions on both floors around the inn.

Alyx was with Griggs on the second floor whilst Gordon and Sheckley shared the first floor.

"God! More hunters." Alyx said as she started to shoot at the hunters.

"These guns are useless." Griggs complained. "We need better ones."

Alyx thought for a minute.

"If you distract the hunter I could probably get us some pulse rifles."

"Are you crazy? Even if I could distract the hunter, one look from it and you wouldn't last long." Griggs warned her.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it." Alyx said.

She ran downstairs and crouched when she came next to door which was in a little glass conservatory leading outside. She looked around for two pulse rifles.

Alyx could hear Sheckley's taunts and Griggs' desperation while she was in the street. She saw a pulse rifle and picked it up. The hunter noticed her and turned its attention towards her. It threw some flechettes in Alyx's direction and she narrowly avoided them. She picked up a second pulse rifle and sprinted back to the door.

She ran up the stairs, and after making sure the hunter wasn't following her, she loaded the pulse rifles and handed one to Griggs.

"Thanks Alyx." He said as he threw his SMG on the floor. "How does this work again?" Griggs asked as he looked for the trigger. He accidentally shot the ground. "Ohhhhh" he said to himself.

He went back to the window he had been at before. As he was about to pull the trigger however his finger slipped and he accidentally shot an energy ball. As soon as it hit the hunter which was vaporized.

"Wow. Good thinking Griggs." Alyx said.

"Yeah. I-I knew that would happen. Like totally." He said as he ran his hand through his short hair.

"We kicked ass. C'mon, let's go find Gordon."

They went to the first floor and through a broken window; they could see Sheckley and Gordon searching for ammo.

"Man, Gordon was on fire!" Sheckley exclaimed as Alyx and Griggs approached him. Gordon just smiled shyly and nodded.

"We should probably get out of here. It's just an idea." Griggs told everybody, ignoring Sheckley.

"That's the best idea you've had in days. Let's go people." Sheckley ordered.

"We'll have to switch the power off though, if we want to keep on moving." Alyx explained to them.

They traced the power supply to the garages opposite the house with a section of the wall which had been blown off.

"You two can wait in the car. Gordon and I have this covered." Alyx assured Griggs and Sheckley, but as soon as she said this, three dropships arrived and began to unload their cargo, in other words, Combine soldiers.

"Come again?" Sheckley said mockingly as he changed the magazine of his pulse rifle.

"You know the drill." Griggs said in a bored voice as he waited for the soldiers to jump off the ships.

The Combine scattered to confuse them. Some went to the house opposite the garages. Alyx solved that little problem by exploding a gas tank close to the soldiers.

"Ha! Take that Combine scum!" Alyx said triumphantly.

Others went to the little petrol station, so Sheckley shot the petrol dispenser, killing a large number of Combine.

"Can't these guys ever give us a break?" Griggs asked Gordon, who was next to him, who began to throw grenades.

When all the Combine soldiers had been taken care of, Sheckley and a hesitant Griggs offered to stand watch outside, while Alyx and Gordon did their thing.

"This is worse than living in the mines!" Griggs complained to Sheckley, "Irony, huh."

"Would you quit your complaining? Jesus you're like a girl. Anyway if you're sick of this road trip, we could always leave you alone out here to fend for yourself. With no help whatsoever." Sheckley said indifferently.

Griggs made a face and turned round to continue guarding.

"That's what I thought. Hey don't worry Griggs. We're closer to White Forest than we were… hours ago." Sheckley said while trying out a new concept; 'optimism'.

All of a sudden they heard a low buzzing sound. An energy ball had just ricocheted off the wall because Gordon had blasted it with his gravity gun.

"Get down or you'll be vaporized." Alyx shouted as the energy ball shot out of the room.

Griggs and Sheckley instinctively got down and waited a couple of seconds until the energy ball ricocheted off the house, onto the road and finally fizzled out into nothing as it flew towards the sky.

"Close one." Griggs said as he got up.

"Let's get moving. Dr. Magnusson will go crazy if we take much longer." Alyx led them back to the car and once again they were back on their journey to White Forest.

**I wanted to write these events in chronological order, however I left out the part of the advisor pod. If I ever feel like I'll make a short side story about when they found the advisor til the part when th****ey arrive to the white forest inn. Chapter 4 soon uploaded. **


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Are we there yet?" Griggs asked for the hundredth time.

"I'm sure we're soon there." Alyx assured him.

All of a sudden there was a deafening noise, like something crashing. The noise was felt through the whole forest.

"What do you think that was?" Griggs asked while looking around for the source of the commotion.

"Could be anything." Sheckley said as he gripped his gun.

They soon came to a gate blocking their path.

"Damn. What now?" Sheckley said as he looked at the gate.

"I guess it's on foot from now on fellas." Alyx said as she hopped out of the car.

Gordon walked over to the gate and found a wheel. He turned it until the gate opened enough to allow them to pass through.

"Awesome Gordon." Alyx said as she high-fived Gordon.

Griggs rolled his eyes. Sheckley grinned.

"Jealous?"

"No." Griggs retorted as they walked back to the car.

They drove through the gate and saw a dropship on the ground blocking their path once again. Some parts were broken.

"How the hell are we gonna move this thing?" Alyx asked herself and scratching her head.

She was about to ask the others when she heard a dull thud. Then another and then another. A few seconds later a strider came into the view.

"Crap, _Strider!_ Here." Alyx yelled as she ran for cover near the dropship.

The others joined her quickly.

They peeked over the dropship and saw that the strider was shooting at something. A few minutes later they could see a metallic blur.

Alyx's eyes lit up.

She ran out from behind the dropship and called: "Dog!"

The strider and Dog approached the dropship. Dog was frantically attacking the strider, and was pulling off little parts of it.

At one point the strider threw dog into the river and Alyx ran next to him to see if he was alright. Dog got up and pulled the top part of the strider's armor off.

Blood began pouring out of the strider's body.

"Gross." Sheckley said as he crossed his arms.

"Hey look Sheck. It's raining." Griggs said as he danced around.

"Only you can find the bright side to everything. Idiot." Sheckley muttered to himself.

Alyx went to go see if Dog was ok. She looked him over and made sure everything was in check. Gordon and Alyx looked pleased to see Dog.

"So, uh Alyx. You know 'Dog'?" Sheckley asked.

"Yes. My dad gave him to me when I was a little kid and he's been with me ever since." Alyx explained.

"Whatever happened to normal dogs?" Griggs asked himself.

"Hey! Is it every thing ok down there?" everyone looked to where the voice had come from.

"Yeah everything's fine on our end." Alyx reassured the rebels.

"We were just doing our rounds with Dog when he just ran off. We looked for him but couldn't find him anywhere." He shouted back.

"He's with us. How far is White Forest?" Alyx asked. The resistance members explained to them and Alyx thanked them.

"Let's get going." Griggs urged.

"Hey Gordon. Let's race Dog to White Forest. It's not far from here." Alyx suggested. Gordon nodded in agreement.

"Dog, move the dropship for us." Alyx asked him.

Everyone walked back to the car while Dog lifted the dropship and let them pass. When Dog was done, he ran next to them to start the race.

Alyx barked: "One. Two. Three-Go Gordon."

Gordon floored it and the car jolted forward. Gordon had a bit of trouble at first. He couldn't steady it, but after a few mishaps, he managed.

"Step on it Gordon! C'mon we gotta beat Dog!" Sheckley shouted from the back.

Gordon went and they quickly whizzed past Dog, as they were going up the hill. Soon White Forest was in view.

"There, White Forest!" Griggs exclaimed as the gate got closer.

Dog arrived a few seconds after them.

"Ha. Ha. We won. You lost. Loser." Griggs said happily as he did his victory dance. Which resembled the chicken dance.

"Let's go Chicken Boy." Sheckley said as he shoved Griggs forward.

"Um, why is Dog looking at me like that?" Griggs asked in a concerned voice.

"Imbecile." Sheckley muttered to himself as he passed through the gates of White Forest.

"We made it finally!" Alyx said throwing her fist into the air in triumph. "Let's go talk to my dad and give Dr. Magnusson the data packet."

"Yeah, we'll go and find the other resistance members." Sheckley told them. "Thanks for the ride. C'mon dummy."

"No problem. Always a pleasure." Alyx said as she waved goodbye.

They made their way to the console in the room.

"We're Sheckley and Griggs." Sheckley explained to one of the two resistance members.

"We used to live in the mines." Griggs said.

"Sheckley? Griggs? I can't believe my bloody eyes!" the two resistance members separated to allow the rebel to pass through. "How're you doing mate?" he said in a thick Scottish accent.

"Conrad! It's been a long time." Sheckley exclaimed as he hugged Conrad in a manly way.

Sheckley looked Conrad over. He was about five foot eight inches. His black hair was unruly as it had been all those years ago. But his face was more gaunt.

"Hi Conrad." Griggs said grudgingly.

"Let me show you to your living quarters. Follow me." Conrad motioned for them to follow him.

Sheckley and Conrad were reminiscing over good times, when they were still living in the City 17 resistance headquarters, and when they used to pull pranks on Griggs.

The leader of the resistance had decided it would be easier for them to move to White Forest. The whole resistance were split in groups and sent to White Forest on trains at midnight. Conrad was on the train that left before Sheckley and Griggs'. Sheckley and Griggs' train got attacked by combine. Many resistance fighters didn't make it. Griggs and Sheckley were two of the few that survived. The other fighters went their separate ways. God only knew what happened to them.

Sheckley suddenly remembered her. Penny. He wondered if Conrad would ask him, as he was definitely not going to bring it up, but he didn't have to wait long.

"So how did it happen?" Conrad asked stopping mid-walk.

Sheckley had still been daydreaming, so he bumped into Conrad.

"Come again?" he asked.

"You know who I'm talking about dammit. Penny. When did she…" his voice caught.

"Conrad, don't do this yourself." Sheckley said putting his hand on Conrad's shoulder.

"Please. Just tell me. I need to know. I need closure." Conrad said curling his hand into a fist. "Combine bastards."

Sheckley sighed.

"On the train, when we were attacked." Sheckley explained. "I tried everything I could think of. It wasn't enough."

Sheckley suddenly remembered. Her laboured breaths, her screams of pain and all the blood. Oh God, all that blood. It had been all over his hands and clothes. It took him days to wash all the blood out and he could remember the smell as if it had happened yesterday.

Conrad nodded taking it all in. he sighed and opened a door on his left.

"You'll be staying here." He explained in a low voice.

Sheckley and Griggs glanced at the room.

"Thanks Conrad." Sheckley said uncomfortably.

"Yeah. It's great." Griggs said in a forcedly cheerful voice.

The room wasn't very big, but it felt cozy just the same. There was a bunk bed for them to sleep in. there was also a chair, desk and a chest of drawers. The walls were a pale shade of brown, and were peeling.

Conrad left wordlessly. Sheckley sighed as he threw his beanie onto the dresser and went to sit on the lower bunk.

"That went well didn't it?" Griggs asked in a cheery voice. "Top bunk. Sweet." He said as he jumped into the top bunk and sat down.

"Shut up asshole. God you're so clueless." Sheckley said as he lay down and stared at the underside of the top bunk.

He closed his eyes and slept.

λ λ λ

"Sheck. Sheck! Wake up Sheckley!" Griggs said while frantically shaking Sheckley's shoulder.

"Wha? What's going on?" Sheckley mumbled as he turned to face the wall to try and get more sleep.

"Combine. They found out about the missile and White Forest." Griggs explained as he put on his medic uniform.

'What missile?" Sheckley asked as he got out of his bed. As soon as he had heard the word 'Combine' he got out of bed. "Pass me my beanie Griggs. It's on the dresser." He ordered while he did his shoe laces.

"Here." He passed Sheckley the beanie. "Conrad will know more about this than I do." Griggs said as he pulled open a drawer and pulled his pulse rifle out of the dresser drawer.

They went along the corridor. There was mass panic as many resistance members were running about the place. Finally Sheckley and Griggs made it to the training quarters. A meeting was being held to inform all resistance members about the threat. Conrad made his way across the crowd and approached Sheckley and Griggs.

"Those Combine bastards found the missile. If one strider hits that missile, the whole project is a bust. We need to protect that missile." Conrad said in an urgent tone.

"Why do they want to destroy the missile so badly?" Sheckley said.

"That missile is capable of destroying the Portal Storm." Conrad explained.

"Oh, so that's why Alyx needed to get the data packet here a.s.a.p. Now it makes sense." Griggs said putting two and two together.

"Ok. Tell us what to do." Sheckley said.

"We have to help Freeman destroy all the striders. Now, we know for a fact that the striders are traveling in packs with hunters. Our job is to kill the hunters so Freeman will be able to focus on the striders."

"Tell Freeman Good Luck from me." Griggs said in a mocking tone. "How the hell is he supposed to kill the striders?"

"He will be using Magnusson Devices. There are dispensers all over the place. That's where you come in Griggs. Your job is to replace the Magnusson devices. They work by sticking to their opponent and they explode when shot at."

"Right. So what's the game plan?" Sheckley asked.

"You and I will help Freeman with the hunters. Griggs you will go with that group." Conrad pointed to a group at the far side of the hall.

"What? But I wanna go where all the action's at. On the field with Sheckley." Whined Griggs.

"No time to argue. C'mon Griggs give Conrad your pulse rifle. He'll be needing it more than you do."

Griggs slowly gave Conrad the pulse rifle.

"I've only ever handled these once before." Conrad said as he inspected the weapon.

"Amateur." Griggs muttered under his breath.

"You _do_ have ammo for this thing right?" Sheckley asked concerned.

"Sure. This way." Conrad and Sheckley disappeared into the tunnel.

Griggs muttered a swear word and quietly joined other resistance fighters. The leader of this division led them to the basement with crates full of Magnusson devices.

Griggs was assigned a dispenser and given three boxes full of Magnusson Devices.

Whenever the light flashed, he would need to replace the Magnusson Device.

He looked around and noticed that all of the workers were women.

"Great." He thought to himself. "I wonder what Sheckley and Conrad are doing…"

He thought as he arranged some Magnusson Devices in a crate.

_**Sheckley:**_

"Watch out Conrad!" Sheckley shouted as a hunter threw some of its flechettes.

Conrad jumped out of the way, however one of the flechettes snagged his arm and it instantly exploded. His arm was bloody and Conrad could barely take the pain.

Sheckley found a bandage and quickly put it around Conrad's arm.

"Leave it there while I take care of this hunter." Sheckley said checking the magazine of the pulse rifle.

When the hunter was directly in front of Sheckley about to throw some flechettes, Sheckley shot it with the alternative. An energy ball erupted from the mouth of the rifle.

The hunter was vaporized. Sheckley wiped the sweat off his forehead with his sleeve. He then placed his beanie on his hand and went next to Conrad to help patch up his arm.

"I'm gonna apply some pressure so the bleeding will stop." Sheckley said as he carefully covered the hole left by the flechette.

"Promise me that you're gonna get that looked at after this whole business is taken care of. Ok?" Sheckley said jokingly.

"Yeah. Right, if I make it till then." Conrad said as he got up from where he was sitting on the ground.

They heard a small explosion. A few seconds later legs from a strider fell a few feet away from the duo.

"Holy shit." Conrad said.

"Awesome. Thanks Freeman." Sheckley said as he saw freeman running towards the car. "Freeman. He's a nice guy."

"A strider spotted next to the Water Tower." They heard over the intercom.

"Let's go." Conrad said as he changed the magazine of his pulse rifle. "The Water Tower's not too far from here."

They ran towards the Water Tower. Conrad had to rest a couple of times. They took up

tactical positions around the Water Tower.

"Hunters!" Conrad hissed.

Sheckley took aim and fired at the closer hunter. "I wonder how Griggs is doing?" he wondered as he saw the lifeless body of the hunter fall to the ground. He turned around and saw Conrad shooting at the hunter. He helped him and the hunter was soon dead. They hid until they saw Gordon come with his car and throw a Magnusson Device at the strider. They heard the same familiar explosion and breathed a sigh of relief.

_**Griggs:**_

Griggs was bored playing with his nails. His dispenser hadn't flashed. Not even one false alarm. Tina over at dispenser 4 had to replace at least 5 Magnusson Devices.

"Poor Tom. Right on the front line." Maria said shaking her head.

"I'm so worried my hands are shaking." Bettina said as she put her head in her hands.

"God. Women and their problems." Griggs said as he sighed. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a button flashing.

"My time to shine!" Griggs said while standing up and throwing his fist on the air. He quickly sat down and replaced the Magnusson Device.

"Weirdo." Maria and Bettina muttered.

"No need to thank me ladies." Griggs said as he casually sat down and put his feet on a stool and his hands behind his head.

"Thank you George." The leader said while she rolled her eyes.

"It's Griggs dammit. I already told you woman." Griggs said getting very angry suddenly and shouting in a high-pitched voice.

_**Sheckley:**_

"Oh God. I'm beat. _How_ many striders has it been now?" Sheckley said as he rested against the wall of an ammo dispensary."

"Four. I'm not sure we're done yet." Conrad said as he wiped the sweat off his forehead. His arm was still a bit sore so he wasn't doing a very good job.

"Where's Freeman?" Sheckley asked.

"He's over by the Saw Mill. Some other rebels defeated the hunters there." Conrad explained.

All of a sudden there was an alarm.

"What now?" Sheckley said angrily.

"Combine dropping off multiple striders. Strider at the Saw Mill. Now there's one at the Water Tower. Oh God! They're everywhere! C'mon people. Last effort. This is gonna get ugly before it gets better."

"Great. Just what we need!" Sheckley said punching the wall. "Let's go kill these combine bastards Conrad." Sheckley picked up all the magazines he could hold and stuffed them in his pocket.

_**Griggs:**_

"You know I heard the suppression field is down." Greta said as she nudged Maria.

"Oh yeah. I heard about that. Y'know we should all do our part." Both women started laughing.

"Ugh!" Griggs thought to himself "Women are just as bad as men."

_**Sheckley:**_

"Goddam. More striders?" Conrad asked enraged.

"Last effort. C'mon Conrad." Sheckley said urging his friend.

"Alright. I'll go and pick up a Magnusson Device and put it on Gordon's car." Conrad said flicking the safety latch on his rifle.

_**Griggs: **_

"My light's flashing again! That will show Tina." Griggs thought to himself and he smiled a triumphant smile and casually picked up a Device from one of the crates.

_**Sheckley:**_

"Look out for any hunters. Those assholes are sneaky." Sheckley warned Conrad as his eyes scanned the forest next to the sawmill.

"This sure is boring brother." Conrad said as he pulled a piece of fluff off his black fingerless gloves.

"Hmmm." Sheckley said as he casually arranged his beanie.

Suddenly they heard footsteps or the hunter equivalent of footsteps. Sheckley looked behind him and saw a flechette hit the ground an inch away from his foot.

"Hunter!" he shouted as he jumped out of the way.

Conrad quickly undid the safety latch of his pulse rifle and aimed his rifle at the hunter.

Sheckley quickly got up from the floor and shot an alternative at the hunter. Conrad did the same. Both hunters were vaporized.

The strider started to thud towards Sheckley and Conrad. Sheckley called Gordon quickly so he would throw the Magnusson Device at the strider.

Conrad and Sheckley watched Gordon in awe. The Device hit the strider's underbelly and Gordon quickly changed weapon from gravity gun to SMG. He immediately shot the Device causing it to explode. When the strider had been blown up, Gordon wiped the sweat off his forehead.

"No wonder he's the Freeman." Sheckley quietly told Conrad who, in turn, nodded in agreement.

They saw Gordon get a Magnusson Device from a little shack. He then hopped into the car.

"Let's go. We still have like a bazillion of these things left." Sheckley told Conrad while he put his rifle over his shoulder.

_**Griggs:**_

Tina's light lit up. "Woohoo. Yeah baby!" she cried in delight as she picked up a Device from her third crate. She carefully placed it in the dispenser.

Griggs scowled "Next time." Griggs mumbled to himself.

_**Sheckley:**_

"Last few striders." The voice over the intercom announced.

A few seconds later: "Strider spotted at the water tower."

Sheckley, Conrad and Gordon had just finished exploding two striders. They were beat.

"When is this gonna be over…" Sheckley complained to Conrad as Gordon headed for the water tower.

Conrad was staring blankly.

"Earth to Conrad?" Sheckley said as he waved his hand in front of Conrad's face.

Gordon quickly arrived at the water tower. Everything seemed quiet. Sheckley was waiting patiently in the back of the car for Gordon to get out, when out of the corner of his eye he saw a flechette land on a pipe of the car, near his leg.

"Crap." He shouted as he tried to jump to the other side of the car, but could not because his leg had gotten stuck under Gordon's seat. The flechette exploded and Sheckley howled in pain.

The smell of iron filled his nostrils and he could see blood on the pipes of the car and on his trousers.

He got his leg unstuck and crawled out of the car slowly. As soon as he got out of the car however, he fell to the ground.

Conrad and Gordon began to shoot at the approaching hunters while Sheckley straightened his leg.

"Oh God!" he said as he looked at his damaged leg.

The hunters were quickly taken care of, however, strider was slowly approaching.

Conrad got the Magnusson device from the car for Gordon. Gordon picked it up, using his gravity gun, and he threw it at the strider. Conrad quickly passed his rifle to Gordon.

"Bull's eye!" Conrad shouted happily and he punched the air. He turned around and his happiness quickly changed to concern. He ran towards to Sheckley.

"Y'alright mate?" Conrad asked as he pulled Sheckley up.

"Just dandy." Sheckley said as he rolled his eyes. "Ow ow ow. Damn this hurts."

Gordon handed a green vial to Conrad.

"Thanks Gordon." Conrad said as he took the vial and ripped the cap off.

He handed it to Sheckley, who poured the contents of the vial all over his leg.

"You're a life saver Freeman." Sheckley gave Gordon a wan smile.

They heard cheers. A few seconds later:

"We did it! All striders have been destroyed. Personnel to return back to the base immediately."

"Yes! We did it! I told you we'd do it Conrad I just knew it!" Sheckley gave Conrad a quick manly hug.

Gordon let out a sigh of relief and helped Conrad take Sheckley to the car. Conrad went in the 'backseat' and Gordon placed Sheckley in the passenger seat.

"Man. There's so much I have to tell Griggs." Sheckley said happily as Gordon started the car and drove towards the base.

_**Griggs:**_

"Hey girls! We did it! all striders have destroyed!"

Tina and the others began to hug each other.

"Girl you rocked!" Bettina told Tina.

They started giggling and laughing together.

"Yeah. Talk about useless." She indicated to Griggs with her thumb.

"Asshole." Maria told the others and every bust out laughing once again.

"Amateurs." Griggs thought to himself.

He found the exit and went past the training quarters, back to his and Sheckley's living quarters.

He jumped into the top bunk. He lay flat and he suddenly felt sleepy. It had been a long day and replacing Magnusson Devices was hard and tiring work.

A hard knock on the bedroom door woke up Griggs suddenly.

"Huh? Who's there?" Griggs asked sleepily.

"Hey there dork. How was it replacing Magnusson Devices?" asked Sheckley pretending to be interested.

Griggs rubbed his eyes. When he finally got a good look at Sheckley, he looked surprised then puzzled.

"Why are you in a wheelchair Sheck?" Griggs asked.

"I had a run in with one nasty flechette. They said I have at most three weeks in this wheelchair." Sheckley explained.

"Tell ya what. If I find a wheelchair for myself, I'll race ya."

"No doubt." Sheckley high fived Griggs.

"C'mon. Let's go see the rocket launch. I have front row seats thanks to Gordon and Conrad. Oh, by the way he sent you this." Sheckley gave Griggs his pulse rifle back.

"My pulse rifle!" Griggs embraced his rifle and began to stroke it.

"Let's go imbecile." Sheckley tried to maneuver his way to the door, but he couldn't manage. "A little help here?"

"Coming." Griggs sighed and pushed Sheckley's wheelchair out of their room and into the hall. Sheckley directed him to Kleiner's lab.

When they arrived they heard Magnusson and Kleiner bickering.

"But I've already checked that!" Kleiner yelled at Magnusson.

"I know, but I want to double check. If this goes bottoms up, you only have yourself to blame man. All I'm saying is that you can never be too sure." Magnusson concluded by putting his hands together.

"Alright then. I won't be a moment." He went to one of the computers and checked some data.

"All is alright on my part Magnusson." Kleiner said as he arranged his spectacles.

"Everything is ok on my end. All we need to do is press the launch button." Magnusson said as he checked something on his clipboard.

"I think Gordon deserves that honour." Kleiner told Gordon.

"You deserve it buddy." Sheckley told him with a smile.

Gordon walked over to the button and pushed it.

"Commencing countdown sequence. Five. Four. Three. Two. One." Kleiner announced.

Everyone excitedly looked out the window. The entire base trembled as the silo doors ground open and the rocket shot up, into the sky.

Kleiner ran to one of the monitors and began reading the data off it's screen.

"Mission accomplished. The rocket has successfully reached orbit and should reach the Xen portal in a few minutes' time." Kleiner sounded like an excited child.

"The next few minutes are crucial, so no celebrating just yet." Magnusson announced.

"So, what do you think will happen when the Xen portal is destroyed?" Griggs asked Sheckley as he stared at the opening of the silo.

"Dunno. The sky is limit from now on." Sheckley told him, his voice full of hope.

**Sorry if the ending sucks a little, I couldn't think of anything better. Well that's the end of 'Flight to White Forest' and thanks to all the peeps who stuck around for all 4 chapters. Thanks so much! **

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